AUGUST MEMORIES

MAKING AN IMPRESSION

Country Summers

During our August session, the members were encouraged to remember their childhood outdoor summers.   We visited our community garden to look at the plants flowers and vegetables and came back armed with foliage for further investigation.  This added to the foliage Christine and Maureen had already collected and brought with them.  We tasted and identified herbs, even remembering how they could be used in cooking. 

Christine read us Mr Fox, a story, from Living Voices resource.  A round robin tale of cooperation and cause and effect, it caused quite a philosophical response!  

Christine sang us Fordal Ball by Jim Dunn.  Sung to the familiar tune, Kelvin Grove, it made it ideal for the group to join in. 

Francis, Ian and Evan all read a piece of "Sweet Forget-me-not", a popular poem from Vancouver.  

The Sweet Forget-Me-Not

Fancy brings a thought to mind

Of a flower that's bright and fair

Its grace and beauty both combine

A brighter jewel more rare

Just like a maiden that I know

Who shared my happy lot

She whispered when we parted last

  "Oh, you'll forget me not"

    She's graceful and she's charming, Like the lily in the pond

    Time is flying swiftly by, Of her I am so fond

    The roses and the daisies, Are blooming 'round the spot

    Where we parted, when she whispered, "You'll forget me not"

We met, I really don't know where

  But still it's just the same

For love grows in the city streets

  As well as in the lane

I gently clasped her tiny hand

  One glance at me she shot

She dropped her flower, I picked it up

  'Twas the sweet forget-me-not

And then there came a happy time

  When something that I said

Caused her lips to murmur "Yes"

  And shortly we were wed

There is a cott' down in the land

  And a tiny plot

Where grows a flower, I know it well

  It's the sweet forget-me-not

The Members reminisced about the summer, we spoke about how the time was spent, climbing trees,  making dens.  Francis and Geordie have photographs of themselves during a summer there families spent living near each other up the glen!  Ian remembers summers when he was busy "doing nothing".  Ginny's memories of childhood were coloured by her love of Enid Blyton stories.

As a nod to famous Scottish West Coast holiday activities, Christine told the members a visual story, involving folding and ripping paper, about "Sam's Day Oot, Doon the Watter"
A moral tale about the perils of sailing, the members were reminded of some parental warnings they followed during the summer months.
"Bide awa frae the watter!"

Christine sang a traditional song, to the tune Johnny Cope about cutting the fields by hand.  Evan talked about heuks, sickles and scythes, demonstrating scything across the room!

The Band o' Shearers

Oh summer days and heather bells
   Come blooming owre yon high hill,
There's yellow corn in a' the fields,
   And autumn brings the shearin'.

Bonnie lassie will ye gang

   And shear wi' me the hale day lang?

And love will cheer us as we gang

   Tae join yon band o' shearers.

Oh, if the weather be owre hot

   I'll cast my cravat and my coat

And shear wi' ye amang the lot,

   When we join yon band o' shearers.

And if the thistle is owre strang,

   And pierce your lily milk-white hand,

It's wi' my hook I'll cut them down,

   When we gang tae the shearin'.

And if the weather be owre dry,

   They'll say there's love twixt you and I

But we will proudly pass them by,

   When we join the band o' Shearers.

And when the shearin' it is done

   And slowly sets the evening sun,

We'll have some rantin' roarin' fun,

   And gang nae mair tae the shearin'.

So bonnie lassie bricht and fair

   Will ye be mine for evermair?

If ye'll be mine, then I'll be thine,

   And we gang nae mair tae the shearin'.

We had a trip to the garden to gather more foliage for our afternoon visual art activity.

 

Maureen introduced the group to clay.  An unfamiliar medium to most, but using familiar techniques to roll and press using rolling pins.  The members selected plants and cuttings to press into the wet clay to create designs and record the textures and shapes of the foliage. 

When the clay dried, the panels were sprayed black and then had a gold paint burnished over them.

At the end of this ORLANG session we put together an exhibition in a local gallery to display all the visual art work that the members had worked on over the year so far.  Family and friends were invited too.  It was a great success, the members received some really positive responses and Kirrie Connections was able to promote the meeting centre and all the amazing work they do.

   

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

LIFE REALLY IS A ROLLER COASTER

At our July Orlang session we explored our memories of the Summer and in particular summer holidays.  Amongst other things, Christine brought her swimming costume and a bucket and spade with her in her basket this week.

Evan remembered the changing huts on the beach at Montrose, he recited "Learning to Swim" by Eunice Buchanan for us.  We discovered that not all the members in the group could swim, as, in their youth, it was considered to be a dangerous activity.

For Frances a day trip to Dundee, with a film at Greens picture house 

was a Summer event.  Or even a fish tea at Franchi's in Kirriemuir.  

An impromptu version of Donkey Riding ensued after viewing this image and the tune was identified as the marching song of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders by one of the members.

Edwin Morgan 

"The Picnic"

In a little rainy mist of white and grey

we sat under an old tree,
drank tea toasts to the powdery mountain,
undrunk got merry, played catch
with the empty flask, on the pine needles
came down to where it rolled stealthily away –
you lay
with one arm in the rain, laughing
shaking only your wet hair
loose against the grass, in that enchanted place
of tea, with curtains of a summer rain
dropped round is, for a rainy day.

The group had many memories of "the berries" and how the money earned picking them paid for the next years school uniforms.

Christine read the group a beautiful story called "Going to the Zoo" by Marriot Edgar

Maureen introduced the photographs of Grace Robertson a photographer of Scottish origin (daughter of Fyfe Robertson) who produced a series of images of a group of women going on a day trip to the fair.  

The roller-coaster in this image was the basis of the art lesson.

The group members used simple strips of card and glue, attaching the bent, twisted and curved pieces to a card base to represent the tracks and the movement of the roller-coaster.  

In doing this the group created simple 3d card sculptures describing motion, height and scale.  To emphasis the scale, the group placed tiny figures on the bases.

Even also volunteered to take a virtual tour on a roller-coaster!

  

  

THE STRAWBERRY THIEF

JUNE BERRIES

Etchings

"June is Bustin Out All Over"

Christine brings an increasingly large basket of goodies every month.   This month in her basket she brought sage, lovage, rosemary, thyme and beautiful chives. The members of the group were able to identify most of them. 

 She also brought rhubarb and of course wonderful local strawberries (so big that we only had one each!) and some of her many song books.

 Some of the tea cloths that Christine brought were a reminder of holidays, France, Portugal and Adelaide.  

The group joined in reciting "The Day We Went to Rothsay"  and then we sang a version too.    Evan volunteered to to read  a quote from H Peter Loewer, a noted gardener, which he then translated into a perfect Scots!  

May and June. Soft syllables, gentle names for the two best months in the garden year: cool, misty mornings gently burned away with a warming spring sun, followed by breezy afternoons and chilly nights. The discussion of philosophy is over; it's time for work to begin.   H Peter Loewer

Christine sung as a beautiful song called 
Tramps and Hawkers

O come a' ye tramps and hawker-lads an' gaitherers o' bla'

That tramp the country roun' and roun', come listen one and a'

I'll tell tae ye a rovin' tale, an' places I hae been

Far up into the snowy north, or sooth by Gretna Green.

I've seen the high Ben Nevis that gangs towerin' tae the moon

I've been roun' by Crieff an' Callander an' by Bonny Doon

I've been by Nethy's silvery tide an' places ill tae ken

Far up into the stormy north lies Urquart's fairy glen

Sometimes noo I laugh tae mysel' when dodgin' alang the road

Wi' a bag o' meal slung upon my back, my face as broun's a toad

Wi' lumps o'cheese and tattie-scones or breid an' braxie ham

Nae thinking whar' I'm comin' frae nor thinkin' whar I'm gang.

I'm happy in the summer-time beneath the dark blue sky

Nae thinkin' in the mornin' at nicht where i'm gang to lie

Bothies or byres or barns, or oot amangst the hay

And if the weather does permit, I'm happy a' the day.

Loch Katrine and Loch Lomond, they've oft been seen by me

The Dee, the Don, the Devron, that a' flows tae the sea

Dunrobin Castle, by the way, I nearly had forgot

And the reckless stanes o'cairn that mairks the hoose o' John

o' Groat.

I've been by bonny Gallowa', an' often roun' Stranraer

My business leads me anywhere, I travel near an' far

I've got that rovin' notion I wouldna like tae loss

For It's my daily fare an' as much'll pay my doss.

I think I'll gang tae Paddy's Lan', I'm makin' up my mind

For Scotland's greatly altered noo, I canna raise the wind

But if I can trust in Providence, if Providence should prove true

I'll sing ye's a' of Erin's Isle when I come back to you.

The members enjoyed recognising many of the place names. 

Tib Smith was lady from Abernethy who wrote this piece about picking berries in the summer holidays.  Ginny, Evan and Frances did a fine job of reciting it If you click on the link you will hear a sung version of it.

Christine read from Hamish Henderson's book Alias MacAlias.  Where he recalls how the travellers gathered round campfires during the summer seasons at the berries sharing songs and passing on fables and tales.  The group remarked on the difference in the tradition of growing soft fruit, now found in poly tunnels and growing on benches that save the pickers from bending.  We also questioned the fact that strawberries were traditionally grown on straw and wondered if that is how they got their name?

Maureen introduced the group to William Morris, designer, poet, novelist and social activist. In particular his fabric and textile design the "strawberry thief "  His philosophies were based on the virtues of environmentalism and harked back to a time where hand made items were favoured over the mass produced. 

Using an etching tool the group traced sections of the design, scratching into pieces of acrylic over light boxes to prepare an etching plate.

These plates were then coated in ink and printed, using a traditional printing press on to damp hand made paper.  What great fun, the group were genuinely thrilled and wanted to know how many we were going to make so they could take them home! 

“The past is not dead, it is living in us, and will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make.”

WILLIAM MORRIS

how apt....

THE MAY WEAVERS

MAY ORLANG

Weavers

 Willow weaving was the chosen activity for this month.  Christine brought in a beautiful example of a basket holding seasonal bluebells, seeds, plants and herbs.  The first song she gave us was "The Gard'ner Wi' His Paidle".  The first verse was very fitting and lead us into thinking about the month of may 

When rosy May comes in wi' flowers, 

To deck her gay, green-spreading bowers, 

Then busy, busy are his hours, 

The Gard'ner wi' his paidle.

Christine also brought us a copy of "Yellow on the Broom" by Betsy Whyte.  The group had many memories of travellers in bygone ages. The work that they did on the land, sharpening blades, the baskets and clothes pegs that they made and sold and the bendy tents that they used through the summer. 

The group read the poem "Balmerino" by Eunice Buchannan, it has some beautiful references to the birds and flora of the month of May. 

  

Balmerino by Eunice Buchanan

C’wa wi me tea Balmerino wuids

Stey quiet there. Knee-deep in bluebells

Mangst the trees an let a senses sweetin

Like nimmle fishes in a sea o blue

Taka tent an hear the croo o cushie doo

The cheetle a chaffie and the pipe o wren

Awa in the verra hicht o the tallest beech

The craw o corbie, an the jackdaw’s keik

Syne hunker doon unner the vaulted green

O leaf an branch, spy oot the hidden gems

O speedwell, tormentil an celandine.

Tak in warm breith o the livin airth.

Come doon the brae, feel saft ablow yer feet

A hunner year o simmer sun an growth.

Quicken tae drifts o meysies on the banks.

Staund – an let yer heid dinnie wi the smell.

Christine read "The Seal Woman"  a story with a tradition of the selkies at its core.  It was spellbinding.  

Isn't it interesting how having a story read to us at any age can transport us, and how the word yarn, meaning a story, can bring us round to the subject of weaving.

Maureen then introduced the group to willow.  To become familiar with the texture and properties of the materials everyone started with intertwined rings.  

It is a treat to see the ability of old hands transcribing previous hand skills to some new facility.  Some of our members were skilled woodworkers and knitters and it wasn't long until muscle memory confidently took over.  

Christine had introduced the subject matter of the sea in her selkie story and the song "The Fish Gutters Song"   The group talked of the bygone fishing traditions and the Silver Darlings.

The group set out to weave there own wee silver darlings from willow.

Like he was born to it!  This is Ian, confidently showing us how to do it. 

A great sense of achievement was felt as we hung up our finished products for all to see.

The group are already working out how they can transfer these skills to produce some Christmas crafts.